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I have been struggling with this election cycle. As someone who for the most part has always voted Republican, I abruptly quit the GOP early this spring. It became apparent to me a few years ago that the party was in trouble. The rise of Trump was the final nail in the coffin for me.
I was a supporter of Rand Paul for president. While I don’t agree with him on every issue, he was the closest to my overall beliefs running this term. However, his message of fiscal responsibility, drug and prison reforms, and a less interventionalist policy overseas didn’t resonate with the majority of the GOP voting base.
This party, which I once fought for, has let me down, tremendously. I look back and see that it’s been off course for a long time. I was just one of the many who thought we could turn the Titanic, what we didn’t realize is that we were already on a collision course with an iceberg.
Donald Trump is the Iceberg.
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As much as I didn’t want to believe that my fellow Republicans could go down this road, it happened. Even though I would have never admitted that the party could be taken over by a message underwritten by misogyny, bigotry, and xenophobia, it has been. In fact, it was handed over on a silver platter.
It started with a wink and a nod to the worst parts of conservatism that infiltrated the Tea Party movement. It happened by ignoring the reverberations coming from that movements underbelly. The only thing that mattered was that they turned out the votes and got Republicans elected, and by accepting that the GOP signed their deal with the devil.
In trying to process what was happening not only to the party but the country as a whole. I ran across a quote this morning that put what is going on in a different perspective:
“The principle for which we contend is bound to reassert itself, though it may be at another time and in another form.” Jefferson Davis
I think many of them, whether they’ve heard the quote or not, believe that this is some noble cause. They are certain that they are right, and this, in some ways, is their last stand and they are fighting to “save” America.
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Davis was right in that, these feelings and beliefs weren’t defeated. They were just made less popular and pushed into hiding. Trump has made them popular again.
Growing up in Alabama and taking a field trip as a child to Montgomery flashed back to me. I saw Governor Wallace’s office. I stood in the exact spot Jefferson Davis took his oath for the CSA. It was at the time a feeling of pride that was subtly but purposely indoctrinated into us. This overriding thought that nobody could tell you what to do, even if what you’re doing may be wrong and immoral.
It’s a belief that says standing up for what you believe is right is more important than finding out if you are indeed right.
This type of pride is a feeling that has always made up the fabric of Alabama and much of the South. Trump has evolved the message to make it resound with many Americans; that had never seen it this way. He also brought the very worst of those who did out of hiding.
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When this is over the GOP will be left to pick up the pieces of what remains of the party. It will have to examine itself and what it’s new message is. Without a purge, it may never recover. Those members who stayed and fought against this onslaught will have decisions to make.
This problem just isn’t about Trump; he is merely the catalyst that started this fire. Maybe that in itself isn’t a bad thing. It is sort of like lancing a boil; it had to be done at some point. I just don’t think we knew how ready it was.
After the election and the postmortem, it will be time to try and put things back together. Not only will we have to work to move forward, but also to prevent ourselves from taking any more steps backward.
Join our #StopTrump task force today.
(Weekly conference calls with like-minded people who want to stop a candidate who is racist, sexist, bigoted, incites violence and is demonstrating no competence for the job at hand.)
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Photo: Getty Images
J.W. I understand there are a lot of #nevertrump people out there and need to vent my frustrations with you. Initially I was not for Trump. I was not overwhelming happy with anyone the GOP had to offer. Every candidate of the 17 had flaws. While they all had flaws, most had some good points too, but there was not a single candidate that had a chance of beating Hillary. You say Trump is not a “Good Man” to be truthful, I’m not sure what a good man is. Most people who know me often tell me what a good… Read more »
I totally get your never trump stumping, but I’m hoping you spend more time writing to the editor on this than you do here. This has been a campaign of your personal views, rather than a message of what we should be looking for in becoming good men. If I wrote a personal opinion editorial here on the virtues of heterosexual masculinity as being the only purview of being a good man, or rather explaining why gay men could never be good men, since homosexuality is an affront to society, which of course I don’t believe, it simply wouldn’t get… Read more »
Mark, this is the perfect platform to discuss this. Donald Trump stands in direct opposition to almost everything a good man represents. It’s not hard to look at his record, what he has said and what he has done and come to that conclusion. It’s even easier to see it with what he is doing and saying today. However, this article just isn’t about Trump. It is about the total collapse of everything the GOP at one point stood for. I am not the only one saying it, many long-term Republican members and supporters are just as disgusted with all… Read more »
Well. One thing we agree on is congress failing miserably. Part of the reason for that is while they control the house it’s not by a large number and therefore all Republicans would have to vote the same way and that’s just not going to happen. I’ve said for years to vote them all out and start over. This administration has done more to chip away at American strength than any other person could. It’s his personal philosophy. He has released terrible people who to be honest should have been executed. It is apparently American philosophy now to release our… Read more »